A -4° Start to a very Frosty Grayling Day, Fishing the
River Ewenny on 10 December 2022
Saturday 10th December was the 2nd Grayling day for area 4. On Ewenny River courtesy of the PDAC, for this new season organised by Geoff Bevan. I collected Tony Mitchell at 6.30, as he was my Grayling Society guest for the day, fishing the Pencoed beats. 6+1 members braved this very cold morning and we were eventually rewarded with 20 fish. We had a mixture of ice, rain, snow and sunshine for a few moments, otherwise very cold with gin clear water almost perfect conditions although the flow was a little too fast. As there is no GS, assurance for guests is up to the appointed member to keep their guest in sight at all times. As Tony was fishing this water for the first time, and as I have said before this is a very challenging water I was trying to show him as much of the water as I could as we drove down to the 2nd parking area. It quickly became very obvious once we parked we were there for the duration, as the weight of the car just made it slide towards the banks. The lane was glass ice so we were fixed there for the day to the beats marked E, F, & G, a very wild mixture of fishing for a new comer to this water. Tony fished a 7ft rod, with wet flies and nymphs. I expect if he comes again he may well try a smaller set up, the 6+1 fishing members had a wide selection of fishing methods, and Larry on the Tenkara set up was the winner with the biggest catch for the day. I was on my short 5ft 6in 4w rod with short line on a beaded nymph.
The first section we fished were between the cattle bridge crossing and the ford although when Tony climbed up the bank to climb over the sty he was surrounded by black and white cows, not for the faint hearted. I think they thought it was the farmer with their dinner. As I watched them, I spotted Tony’s white hat as he came up the bank and the they cantered across the field to him as he stepped into their field, then they all wandered off peacefully. We walked and fished E, F & G beats and then walked the length of the Moors beat and also fished from the concrete cattle crossing. The beat has several hand built weirs producing still water sections, and pools are plentiful all the way down this section. The far bank is unusual as it’s built with huge rectangle shaped blocks of rocks stacked on top of each other to form a bank, which give the young fish a hiding place between them away from hungry predators. These stone blocks were installed by the old Welsh NRA under a scheme, called “Flood Alleviation scheme” to prevent flooding at the then new Ford engine factory somewhere between, 35 and 40 years ago. The weirs are all hand built from different shapes and sizes of natural stone, which produce a selection of calm still water pools before it goes cascading down between the rocks, then flowing down to the next weir, producing a selection again of still water before it goes over the next weir with quiet water on both sides forming more still water pools. All this area is good wading as mostly a small stony shale river bed, it then flows towards the lower levels where the river widens out into another owners section.
We stopped for lunch early as we had been on the water since 8.30,and then at 2.00 pm we decided we had had a great day and should head back as it was getting colder and before it started freezing hard again,
From Tony point of view he enjoyed himself and agrees it’s a very challenging water and was going to tie some smaller flies to suit the water, so I think he will be back.
For me, a great day, first time I have been down the Moors beat, only one word – fabulous,
Andrew Ayres
WFD, G&C FD, Ludlow FD, & Grayling Society member.
Worcester Fly Dressers 